Amp question

[BigRedZag]

I have an 06 DC LB TRD Sport Tacoma with a Pioneer P7800MP HU. I want to upgrade my speakers and add an amp. I want robust sound with some bass but I have no intentions of adding a sub. The only other upgrade I'm looking to do is sound deadening to kill road noise as I commute a lot. After hours of looking around I've narrowed in on the Polk MM691s for the front and MM651s for the rear. I'm stuck on what amp I should use though. Any suggestions or criticisms?

[Kiwi-Corolla]

In order to run the two sets of speakers off one amp it will need to be a 4-channel. To run them effectively you'll want an amp that pumps out about 100w RMS per channel, so start looking for an amp that has a rating of around 600-800w max. Just be very wary of RMS rating and try and stick to well known brands.

Bear in mind that the rear speakers are only meant to be there to fill in the sound. Powering them through the amp may cause them to have too much treble and will through off the sound balance. I've experienced this personally and in order to fix it I had to fade the power from the amp more towards the front speakers via the head-unit, which defeats the purpose of buying high quality speakers for the rear since they'd only be running at quarter efficiency.

To get around this however, you can either buy cheaper, lower wattage speakers for the rear, or turn on the low pass filter on the amp for the rear speakers only (if the amp you buy has that selection). This will cancel out all of the high tones that your front speakers will already be producing, and won't make the rear speakers too 'hissy' and overpowered in terms of treble.

It takes a bit of trial and error to get the sound you're truly after. Everybody has different perceptions of what a good set-up should sound like, so have a play around with the settings on the head-unit and amp after you install it all. Have fun

[gameguru1360]

with the rms rating, it's best to nearly match the amp's rms rating with the speaker's rms rating although sometimes if you get an amp with 100 more rms watts, the amp won't have to work so hard when you want to crank the volume. Setting the amp's gains right, you won't blow those speakers.

[JT_3K]

Both the guys above have got it spot on, especially Kiwi. Car audio experts suggest that a good two speaker amped set up can outweigh far a standard four speaker (with or without a sub). I however find it difficult to enjoy without rear fill

Everybody has different perceptions of what a good set-up should sound like

Exactly. You should never buy any audio kit without listening to it first. For example, I love old Alpine kit for the sound quality and clarity but find JL & Vibe too bass heavy. The Polk stuff has good reviews but have you heard it?

Value for money, I'd suggest the Cadence line for real clarity. Make sure it's well sealed into the door and that the door is fairly well sealed, otherwise you'll loose your mid end. Fit the biggest speakers your enclosures will allow and make sure the amp is decent - I'd still propose one/two of the old Alpine units that are cheap as hell on flebay but that's just me. Make sure whatever you buy, you don't turn the amp gain past 3/4 (or 4/5 at a push).

Keep us posted!

[dr_green]

Originally Posted by BigRedZag

I have an 06 DC LB TRD Sport Tacoma with a Pioneer P7800MP HU. I want to upgrade my speakers and add an amp. I want robust sound with some bass but I have no intentions of adding a sub. The only other upgrade I'm looking to do is sound deadening to kill road noise as I commute a lot. After hours of looking around I've narrowed in on the Polk MM691s for the front and MM651s for the rear. I'm stuck on what amp I should use though. Any suggestions or criticisms?

Have you ever looked at those slim small subs that go under seats for bass fill? That seems like that might help you out with the bass. Then add some nice coaxials, then you should be golden. Good luck!